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Written by: Golden Chess Hu Jiaxin
2020-10-27 22:24
Last update date: 2020-10-27 22:31
The School Committee of the University of Hong Kong held a meeting today (27th) afternoon to consider the appointment of Vice President Shen Zuojun, Dean of the Department of Industrial Engineering of Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Gong Peng, Dean of the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University.
At 8pm, the University of Hong Kong announced that Professor Shen Zuojun was appointed as the Vice President (Research) and Professor Gong Peng was the Vice President (Academic Development).
Among them, Shen Zuojun was recently questioned as a member of the Communist Party of China, which aroused social concern.
It is understood that at the school committee meeting today, Shen Zuojun clarified through a statement that he is not a "party committee" and that his position at Tsinghua University is only "honorary" and is not responsible for any daily operations.
He also explained that the standard procedure of Tsinghua University is to designate the department chair as the party committee, so he is not a party member but the department secretary also automatically listed him as a party committee. He also pointed out that the related problem was due to an oversight by the webmaster. Tsinghua University was immediately contacted and the problem was corrected.
Li Guozhang, chairman of the University Committee of the University of Hong Kong, said that the university committee expressed satisfaction with the clarification of the background of the two professors and believed that all the allegations were unfounded.
Said to work at Tsinghua University for only a few weeks each year
According to information from the University of Hong Kong, Shen Zuojun is currently the President and Professor and Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research of the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
He also serves as an Honorary Professor and Dean of the Industrial Engineering Department of Tsinghua University.
However, it was revealed recently that the Tsinghua University website originally showed that Shen Zuojun was also a member of the "Department Party Committee" of the department, but the school suddenly deleted his party committee information, attracting public attention.
At the meeting of the University Committee of Hong Kong University today, Shen Zuojun clarified through a statement that he was not a "party committee."
He said that after graduating from Tsinghua University, he went to the United States for further studies and then worked at the University of California, Berkeley.
However, due to the deterioration of his mother's health, he also returns to China every summer to take care of his mother.
While in China, he cooperated with Tsinghua University, and was invited by Tsinghua University to serve as an honorary professor and department chair. After being approved by his full-time employer, University of California, Berkeley, he has worked at Tsinghua University several times a year since 2014. During the week, the main responsibilities include providing advice on international cooperation and maintaining an active, open and free learning and research environment, but does not include the actual daily operation of the department.
Refers to being automatically listed as a party committee and learned from Hong Kong media reports
Shen Zuojun also said that the standard procedure of Tsinghua University is to designate the department director as the party committee, so the department secretary automatically adds his name to the party committee.
He emphasized that he was never a party committee, nor was he qualified to become a party committee. He was shocked when he learned of the incident only after the local media reported it.
He believed that the incident was the negligence of the webmaster of the relevant webpage, so he immediately contacted Tsinghua University and they also corrected the problem.
Shen Zuojun described the incident as making him more aware of Hong Kong and everyone's concerns, emphasizing that he firmly believes in academic freedom (strong believer in academic freedom), and will strive to uphold the truth, while respecting different views and opinions in society.
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Li Guozhang, Chairman of the University Council of the University of Hong Kong, also issued a statement stating that the selection process is through the global search for suitable candidates, the review and consultation process is detailed and rigorous, and the sole purpose is to recruit the best talents for the university to assume leadership positions.
The three appointed professors are all outstanding scholars with international reputation and outstanding performance in their academic fields.
The statement also stated that due to many rumors and speculations about the background of the candidates for the two vice presidents, the two professors deliberately made clarifications, including the vice president designate (research) Shen Zuojun who stated that he is not a member of the Communist Party or a party committee.
The school committee expressed satisfaction with the clarifications made by the two professors and believed that all the allegations were unfounded.
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The full text of Shen Zuojun's self-report:
Thanks for giving me this opportunity to clarify some possible misunderstanding about my employment history.As you know, I am currently a full-time professor and chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley. I am also an honorary professor and department chair at Tsinghua University. The Chair at Berkeley is “real”, while the chair at Tsinghua is only an honorary one. I am not the real boss at Tsinghua. Let me explain further as to how this arrangement came about and works. I graduated from Tsinghua in 1996. I immediately went to my graduate study at Northwestern University in the US. I got my PhD in 2000 and started my academic career at the University of Florida. In 2004, I moved to UC Berkeley where I worked very hard and got my tenure in 2007. I was promoted from associate professor to full professor in just 3 years, in 2010. That year, the health of my 83 years old mom deteriorated, so I started to go back to China every summer
to take care of her. While in China, it was only natural for me to start collaborating with the IE department at Tsinghua University. The department's first head was a chair professor Dr. Gabriel Salvendy, who was a full-time professor at Purdue University when he was appointed. When Dr. Salvendy stepped down, Tsinghua offered the position to me. I sought approval from UC Berkeley, my full-time employer, and was granted permission to take on the honorary professorship and department chair at Tsinghua in 2014. My honorary position at Tsinghua means that I only need to work there for a few weeks every year. My main responsibilities include providing advice on international collaborations and maintaining an active, open, as well as free learning and research environment. The actual day-to -day running of the department was, however, managed by the department's local leadership, not me. A standard process at Tsinghua was to assign the department chair to be on the party committee（党委). No
t surprisingly, therefore, the secretary of the department automatically put my name on the party committee even though I am not a party member; I've never been one, and I am not qualified to be on the party committee (党委). Unfortunately , I did not know about this until the Hong Kong media reports revealed it last weekend. I was shocked and stunned by the media reports… The truth, however, is that I am a US Citizen and I have obtained permission from Berkeley every year to work in Tsinghua.Unfortunate as the mis-guided media reports may have been, they have allowed me to gain a better understanding of Hong Kong as well as your concerns. There is absolutely nothing to hide and I am a strong believer in academic freedom. Being a scholar, I am committed, like you, to upholding the truth, while respecting different views and opinions in society. Although this incident has caused me a lot of stress, I don't want to lay blame on anyone. I only want you to get the facts and set the record str
aight. Thank you for your time.'
Thanks for giving me this opportunity to clarify some possible misunderstanding about my employment history.
As you know, I am currently a full-time professor and chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley. I am also an honorary professor and department chair at Tsinghua University. The Chair at Berkeley is “real”, while the chair at Tsinghua is only an honorary one. I am not the real boss at Tsinghua. Let me explain further as to how this arrangement came about and works.
I graduated from Tsinghua in 1996. I immediately went to my graduate study at Northwestern University in the US. I got my PhD in 2000 and started my academic career at the University of Florida. In 2004, I moved to UC Berkeley where I worked very hard and got my tenure in 2007. I was promoted from associate professor to full professor in just 3 years, in 2010. That year, the health of my 83 years old mom deteriorated, so I started to go back to China every summer to take care of her.
While in China, it was only natural for me to start collaborating with the IE department at Tsinghua University. The department's first head was a chair professor Dr. Gabriel Salvendy, who was a full-time professor at Purdue University when he was appointed. When Dr. Salvendy stepped down, Tsinghua offered the position to me. I sought approval from UC Berkeley, my full-time employer, and was granted permission to take on the honorary professorship and department chair at Tsinghua in 2014. My honorary position at Tsinghua means that I only need to work there for a few weeks every year. My main responsibilities include providing advice on international collaborations and maintaining an active, open, as well as free learning and research environment. The actual day-to-day running of the department was, however, managed by the department's local leadership, not me.
A standard process at Tsinghua was to assign the department chair to be on the party committee (党委). Not surprisingly, therefore, the secretary of the department automatically put my name on the party committee even though I am not a party member; I' ve never been one, and I am not qualified to be on the party committee (党委). Unfortunately, I did not know about this until the Hong Kong media reports revealed it last weekend.
I was shocked and stunned by the media reports... The truth, however, is that I am a US Citizen and I have obtained permission from Berkeley every year to work in Tsinghua.
Unfortunate as the mis-guided media reports may have been, they have allowed me to gain a better understanding of Hong Kong as well as your concerns. There is absolutely nothing to hide and I am a strong believer in academic freedom. Being a scholar, I am committed, like you, to upholding the truth, while respecting different views and opinions in society.
Although this incident has caused me a lot of stress, I don't want to lay blame on anyone. I only want you to get the facts and set the record straight. Thank you for your time.'
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Hong Kong University Council Li Guozhang, University of Hong Kong
